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reenkaI like narrowing things down to catchy um, catch-phrases, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angua9 is really good with those.
I too, am feeling the excitement-- and the pressure-- pre-OoTP!movie and um, book 7-- what with me being blah about HP and not finishing my novella or following fandom and suddenly trying to re-watch the movies & reread the books and now, panic! and woe! and whee! And OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO DAN'S HAIR??!?! (one year after the rest of fandom, to be sure.)
Anyway, back to catch-phrases. I like the idea of separating people in fandom not into 'canon-purists' and 'fanon-lovers' (or what have you), but rather folks predominantly into 'appropriation' vs. 'appreciation'. Not that it's really that simple-- because plenty of people do both, just separate the two-- or do both and see appopriation of characters/world as a form of appreciation entirely consistent with canon-love. There are more than a few H/D fans (like myself) who love and enjoy canon-- even canon pairings & canon author-intentions & canonically implicit balances or underlying truths-- but also love expanding upon them, messing with them, trying to take and stretch them to fit our own vision of the truth & beauty that is Harry/Draco. All that, and without being delusional, too! Who'd've thunk it!! :D
I mean, the truth is that I empathize with both camps but am naturally more of an appreciator than an appropriator with more complex/developed canons-- that is, I naturally appropriate fairy-tales and myths, but most modern stories are too darn complex and non-archetypal to call my own and write in comfortably.
I naturally enjoy things 'as they are', whether they be people or fictional works, but I also naturally play with ideas for fun. They're not exclusive occupations by any means. In fact, once you reeeeally love an idea/vision/universe, you can't help but make it part of you, even if you can't necessarily write fics set in that world, per se. So even if I can't write Star Trek or Star Wars or Neverending Story fic, etc, I'm certainly influenced by them unconsciously in whatever 'original' fic I may write in the future.
If there is something 'wrong' with a work (as Angua says), when I'm in appropriator mode my impulse is to play with it and pretend it's 'right' in a freaky way, rather than 'fix' it. Like, I'd write fics exploring Sirius' afterlife beyond the Veil and have him meet Charon somewhere Out There, the ancient Boatman of Souls that looks suspiciously like Hagrid, much sooner than bringing him back to life with Remus, say. I love loopholes, what-ifs and why-nots much more than stubborn (delusional) refusals of canon. Those always leave a bad taste in my mouth (much as I enjoyed a few Bring Back Black and hell, Bring Back Spike fics). But the reason I liked Bring Back Spike even more was because it was way more canon-plausible. And then it actually happened in Angel :D :D :D
I think this also goes to explain why I was much more into canon-based H/D with OoTP than HBP, and I was particularly not crazy about year-six "AUs" where Harry's interest in Draco was explicitly sexual. I love building on anger & denial and vengeance, but notsomuch making wink-wink jokes about the Room of Requirement and what Draco was doing inside it, y'know. :> There's a fine line somewhere in there, and those "Harry SO wants Draco" fics stepped a little too close to canon rewrites to feel good to me, so in that sense I guess I was an 'appreciator' of HBP. But the truth is that I just wanted things appropriated with a sense of honesty and visceralness, where there was a direct link between the harsh light of the 'skeptic's canon' and shippiness. So like, if I was an H/Hr fanatic, say, I'd write my H/Hr with JKR's hints about R/Hr firmly planted there as well and dealt with as fairly as I could, if also subverted. It's like-- and I've always thought so-- it shows a lack of faith in something if you think you must redesign 'reality' to be even more welcoming to your (supposedly 'superior' and supercool) vision of 'Truth & Beauty'. What a gyp, no? A Truth that must lie is no truth but basest falsehood :P (Note: take that statement with a grain of salt, hehehe.)
So yeah. I don't think it has to come down to a simple choice between your vision & canon (and which do you value most), though I think Angua's definitely on to something in terms of how the majority of people in fandom work. :> I don't really have a vision, say, besides 'Draco is interesting' and 'Harry has an interesting dynamic with him' and 'Draco should really grow up and mature & re-evaluate Some Things, and so should Harry'; a lot of the things I passionately refuted and ranted about were fanon-based, like 'but THIS IS WRONG' rather than 'but this is right instead!!'. It's not like I'm not flexible, is the thing. It's not like I'd like to dictate how that all comes about; I'd just like to see some issues explored, in canon or fanon-- as long as it's serious.
(Note: that was me being somewhat facetious, sorta; I actually am a total porn-loving dork, don't listen to me. It's not like I'm Ms. Serious Canon!H/D. More Ms. Used to Bitterly Hate Prevailing Fanon!H/D, but then that's not the same, is it.)
In the end, I'm not an 'appropriation-minded fan', but I'm wary of siding squarely with the appreciation camp and all that entails in fandom. I mean... appreciation != appreciation of everything, and appreciation != non-critical acceptance, either. I'd like to think that I love things as they are, but in a quirky way. And I'd like to think I borrow but not without bringing something somewhat interesting or even valuable to the table in the process in return. And I'd like to think one can be both a creative, a critical, and an unselfconsciously devoted fan.
It's like any love, isn't it? You can see the flaws of the things you love most (though the point there is that you can also accept without stigmatizing or whitewashing). You can empathize with and appreciate things when you really love them the most (though, uh, the point there is separating 'true' love from 'false'/possessive/delusional love, no easy task). And you can both understand, and love, and cut down your darlings-- cut them down to the quick for a good story, too.
It really sucks, though, 'cause I love snappy definitions, it's just then I must quibble with them. ^^; No one was ever amusing or cute talking about subtleties & shades of grey. D: That is such a rip-off, honestly. D: This is why, in the end, I prefer talking to people who already know what I mean, so that I don't have to define my terms first, even though that can be half the fun. I mean, defining terms can take ages & ages and then people will tend to still disagree. I mean, if you agree exactly what shade of meaning 'appropriation' and 'appreciation' would have in a particular context, you wouldn't have a problem, I guess. It's just that since that is hard to come by, one ends up saying stuff that begins with '...weeelll...' and '...buuut...' even though you know exactly what the other person's talking about and are just being difficult for argument's sake. And by 'you' I mean 'me'. >___> That is because, in fact, being obscure yet difficult is my favorite pastime, right up there with reading underaged boypr0n and pretzels.
~~
Also:seviet's HBP!Draco & Slyths is so... canony. And the Draco strikes such an interesting balance between pointy-git and poncey bit of arse. Awww. <3.
angua9 is really good with those.I too, am feeling the excitement-- and the pressure-- pre-OoTP!movie and um, book 7-- what with me being blah about HP and not finishing my novella or following fandom and suddenly trying to re-watch the movies & reread the books and now, panic! and woe! and whee! And OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO DAN'S HAIR??!?! (one year after the rest of fandom, to be sure.)
Anyway, back to catch-phrases. I like the idea of separating people in fandom not into 'canon-purists' and 'fanon-lovers' (or what have you), but rather folks predominantly into 'appropriation' vs. 'appreciation'. Not that it's really that simple-- because plenty of people do both, just separate the two-- or do both and see appopriation of characters/world as a form of appreciation entirely consistent with canon-love. There are more than a few H/D fans (like myself) who love and enjoy canon-- even canon pairings & canon author-intentions & canonically implicit balances or underlying truths-- but also love expanding upon them, messing with them, trying to take and stretch them to fit our own vision of the truth & beauty that is Harry/Draco. All that, and without being delusional, too! Who'd've thunk it!! :D
I mean, the truth is that I empathize with both camps but am naturally more of an appreciator than an appropriator with more complex/developed canons-- that is, I naturally appropriate fairy-tales and myths, but most modern stories are too darn complex and non-archetypal to call my own and write in comfortably.
I naturally enjoy things 'as they are', whether they be people or fictional works, but I also naturally play with ideas for fun. They're not exclusive occupations by any means. In fact, once you reeeeally love an idea/vision/universe, you can't help but make it part of you, even if you can't necessarily write fics set in that world, per se. So even if I can't write Star Trek or Star Wars or Neverending Story fic, etc, I'm certainly influenced by them unconsciously in whatever 'original' fic I may write in the future.
If there is something 'wrong' with a work (as Angua says), when I'm in appropriator mode my impulse is to play with it and pretend it's 'right' in a freaky way, rather than 'fix' it. Like, I'd write fics exploring Sirius' afterlife beyond the Veil and have him meet Charon somewhere Out There, the ancient Boatman of Souls that looks suspiciously like Hagrid, much sooner than bringing him back to life with Remus, say. I love loopholes, what-ifs and why-nots much more than stubborn (delusional) refusals of canon. Those always leave a bad taste in my mouth (much as I enjoyed a few Bring Back Black and hell, Bring Back Spike fics). But the reason I liked Bring Back Spike even more was because it was way more canon-plausible. And then it actually happened in Angel :D :D :D
I think this also goes to explain why I was much more into canon-based H/D with OoTP than HBP, and I was particularly not crazy about year-six "AUs" where Harry's interest in Draco was explicitly sexual. I love building on anger & denial and vengeance, but notsomuch making wink-wink jokes about the Room of Requirement and what Draco was doing inside it, y'know. :> There's a fine line somewhere in there, and those "Harry SO wants Draco" fics stepped a little too close to canon rewrites to feel good to me, so in that sense I guess I was an 'appreciator' of HBP. But the truth is that I just wanted things appropriated with a sense of honesty and visceralness, where there was a direct link between the harsh light of the 'skeptic's canon' and shippiness. So like, if I was an H/Hr fanatic, say, I'd write my H/Hr with JKR's hints about R/Hr firmly planted there as well and dealt with as fairly as I could, if also subverted. It's like-- and I've always thought so-- it shows a lack of faith in something if you think you must redesign 'reality' to be even more welcoming to your (supposedly 'superior' and supercool) vision of 'Truth & Beauty'. What a gyp, no? A Truth that must lie is no truth but basest falsehood :P (Note: take that statement with a grain of salt, hehehe.)
So yeah. I don't think it has to come down to a simple choice between your vision & canon (and which do you value most), though I think Angua's definitely on to something in terms of how the majority of people in fandom work. :> I don't really have a vision, say, besides 'Draco is interesting' and 'Harry has an interesting dynamic with him' and 'Draco should really grow up and mature & re-evaluate Some Things, and so should Harry'; a lot of the things I passionately refuted and ranted about were fanon-based, like 'but THIS IS WRONG' rather than 'but this is right instead!!'. It's not like I'm not flexible, is the thing. It's not like I'd like to dictate how that all comes about; I'd just like to see some issues explored, in canon or fanon-- as long as it's serious.
(Note: that was me being somewhat facetious, sorta; I actually am a total porn-loving dork, don't listen to me. It's not like I'm Ms. Serious Canon!H/D. More Ms. Used to Bitterly Hate Prevailing Fanon!H/D, but then that's not the same, is it.)
In the end, I'm not an 'appropriation-minded fan', but I'm wary of siding squarely with the appreciation camp and all that entails in fandom. I mean... appreciation != appreciation of everything, and appreciation != non-critical acceptance, either. I'd like to think that I love things as they are, but in a quirky way. And I'd like to think I borrow but not without bringing something somewhat interesting or even valuable to the table in the process in return. And I'd like to think one can be both a creative, a critical, and an unselfconsciously devoted fan.
It's like any love, isn't it? You can see the flaws of the things you love most (though the point there is that you can also accept without stigmatizing or whitewashing). You can empathize with and appreciate things when you really love them the most (though, uh, the point there is separating 'true' love from 'false'/possessive/delusional love, no easy task). And you can both understand, and love, and cut down your darlings-- cut them down to the quick for a good story, too.
It really sucks, though, 'cause I love snappy definitions, it's just then I must quibble with them. ^^; No one was ever amusing or cute talking about subtleties & shades of grey. D: That is such a rip-off, honestly. D: This is why, in the end, I prefer talking to people who already know what I mean, so that I don't have to define my terms first, even though that can be half the fun. I mean, defining terms can take ages & ages and then people will tend to still disagree. I mean, if you agree exactly what shade of meaning 'appropriation' and 'appreciation' would have in a particular context, you wouldn't have a problem, I guess. It's just that since that is hard to come by, one ends up saying stuff that begins with '...weeelll...' and '...buuut...' even though you know exactly what the other person's talking about and are just being difficult for argument's sake. And by 'you' I mean 'me'. >___> That is because, in fact, being obscure yet difficult is my favorite pastime, right up there with reading underaged boypr0n and pretzels.
~~
Also:
seviet's HBP!Draco & Slyths is so... canony. And the Draco strikes such an interesting balance between pointy-git and poncey bit of arse. Awww. <3.
